Life Advocacy Briefing

March Draws Pence

KEYNOTING LAST FRIDAY’s MARCH FOR LIFE in Washington, DC, was Vice President Mike Pence (R), who was a key pro-life leader during his six terms in the US House. He joined Presidential Advisor Kellyanne Conway in addressing the March rally on the National Mall at noon Friday, past our deadline. We base this report on the news of his schedule, announced mid-week. We will bring our readers our report on the March next week and expect to begin a series of transcripts – produced by Life Advocacy Briefing – of several of the rally speeches. We are confident that this year’s March for Life was huge, dramatic and hopeful in the dawn of America’s restoration to a pro-life White House and Congress and in anticipation of a new pro-life appointee to the Supreme Court.

Reversing the Damage

IN ONE OF HIS FIRST ACTS IN OFFICE, President Donald Trump issued an executive order reinstating and even beefing up a Reagan-era executive order known as our Mexico City Policy.

Under this 1980s-initiated reform – reversed by Pres. William Clinton and reinstated by Pres. George W. Bush, only to be reversed again by Pres. Barack Obama – US taxpayers will no longer be complicit in the commission or even promotion of abortion overseas.

The Trump order, issued last Monday, disqualifies from US funding any outfit which commits abortion overseas or advocates for abortion legalization policies in countries which outlaw the crime. The order means immediate disqualification of International Planned Parenthood – and many less well-known outfits – from US funding, without needing to await Congressional action. (Enactment of a law, however, would be more permanent and could not be reversed at the whim of the next President.)

Along with Steve Mosher of Population Research Institute (PRI), we are delighted to note that the Trump “Mexico City” rewrite appears to be even stronger than the Reagan version we have welcomed whenever it has been handed down in certain past Administrations. Saying it is “‘absolutely’ more comprehensive that its predecessors,” Mr. Mosher told Peter LaBarbera, reporting for LifeSiteNews.com, that the Trump order “now applies to ‘global health assistance furnished by all departments or agencies’ – i.e., not just US Agency for International Development family planning programs; and (2) it now covers ‘involuntary sterilizations’ in addition to abortion.

“‘It’s a wonderful policy,’ [Mr.] Mosher said” in the LifeSiteNews report. “‘[Pres.] Trump is not just reverting to the policy of previous Republican administrations but is actually going well beyond it.’”

PRI research analyst Joseph Abbamonte told Mr. LaBarbera “that various abortion-friendly international ‘family planning’ agencies across the world ‘collectively received nearly $90 million from 2013-2015 in global health assistance funding from the US government.’” No more, thank God!

Plus, the order appears to bar further US funding of the notorious UNFPA (United Nations Population Fund), frequently in the past a major target of pro-life Members of Congress. UNFPA has been deeply involved in promotion of abortion and has been found complicit with the Red Chinese depopulation policy, an objection which did not in the least faze the Obama Regime.

“Today, we celebrate a significant step,” commented Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Staver in a news release from his organization, “in the battle to make the womb a safe place again,” noting, “It is … significant that Pres. Trump did this on his first full day in the Oval Office and one day after the Roe v. Wade decision anniversary. We cannot reverse the deaths of more than 58 million children,” he said, “but we can reverse the tragic flow of money that allows Planned Parenthood to end the lives of innocent children.”

Said Reggie Littlejohn, president of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers, in a news release from the advocacy group, “We are elated that US taxpayer dollars will stop going to International Planned Parenthood, which has been working hand-in-hand with the Chinese Community Party in their brutal, coercive population control program in China, which includes forced abortion and sterilization … .”

Family Research Council president Tony Perkins was quoted by Mr. LaBarbera: “‘Almost immediately, the Trump Administration set to work building a different kind of wall,’” said Mr. Perkins in the LifeSiteNews story. “‘The one between taxpayers and abortion on demand. … Not only does this help tear down the financial stronghold that groups like Planned Parenthood have on other nations, but it also sends a message to the world that America recognizes that all human beings have inherent worth and dignity.’” Only a beginning, but long overdue.

In meeting with the media last Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer declared, reports Pete Baklinski for LifeSiteNews.com, “‘I think it’s no secret that the President has campaigned as a pro-life President. It’s something that is very important to him,’” said Mr. Spicer, “‘as evidence[d] by the Mexico City Policy reinstatement he issued yesterday. … It’s no secret,’” reiterated Mr. Spicer, “‘that this Administration and this President are going to do what they can to fight for Life.’”

Any Day Now

REPORTS WE’VE SEEN PREDICT the President will nominate the successor to the late Antonin Scalia as the ninth Justice of the Supreme Court this week. We urge our readers to pray while we wait.

House Votes to Enact ‘Hyde’

THE U.S. HOUSE VOTED Jan. 24 to prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions as a matter of permanent law, reinforcing the long-standing Hyde Amendment, which the abortion lobby has sought to block, and making it unnecessary in the future to continually reintroduce it as a policy rider on the annual Health & Human Services Appropriation bill.

Making “Hyde” permanent has been a goal of pro-life lawmakers and citizens for several years, but the effort has been resisted in past years by the President and by Senators. Though it remains to be seen how the Senate will act this year, the new President, Donald Trump, has pledged to sign it if it arrives on his desk. Calls to home-state Senators – urging them to vote for HR-7 to permanently ban taxpayer funding of abortion – are in order now, though we do not yet have word as to when the legislation might be moved forward in the upper chamber.

The vote on the measure was 238 to 183; we publish the voting record at the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing. Just three Democrats voted for the reform. Three related roll calls – on procedural motions related to HR-7 – will be published in future editions as space permits.

Besides enactment of “Hyde,” HR-7, notes Liberty Counsel in a news release, “permanently prohibits taxpayer dollars from being used to pay for abortions in ObamaCare health plans, starting the next plan year,” regardless of what happens in the struggle to repeal ObamaCare.

“According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO),” reports Claire Chretien for LifeSiteNews.com, “1,036 of ObamaCare plans sold in 2014 included abortion on demand,” despite taxpayer subsidies and promises by then-President Obama, while ObamaCare was being considered, that it would not cover abortion. “Other ObamaCare plans,” writes Ms. Chretien, “lack transparency on their abortion funding.”

“Sponsored by Rep. Chris Smith, HR-7 ‘prohibits the use of federal funds for abortion or health plans that cover abortion, except in cases of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is in danger,’” explains Liberty Counsel. “HR-7 prohibits abortions at facilities owned or operated by the federal government and prevents federal employees from performing abortions within the scope of their employment. HR-7 does not prohibit the use of federal funds to treat complications that arise from or are exacerbated by an abortion,’” notes Liberty Counsel, “‘regardless of whether the abortion was performed legally.’” Liberty Counsel does not state whom it was quoting for this explanation; we surmise it was Rep. Smith.

House debate speakers advocating passage of HR-7, in addition to Rep. Smith, included first-term Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), who, reports Ms. Chretien, “blasted those using the [Jan. 21] ‘Women’s March’ as a way to imply they speak for all women, noting that pro-life feminists were excluded from it. She plugged Friday’s 44th annual March for Life,” writes Ms. Chretien.

“Rep. Diane Black (R-TN) also noted the hypocrisy of the Women’s March excluding pro-life women,” reports LifeSiteNews. “Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) called HR-7 a ‘commonsense measure,’” notes Ms. Chretien. And Rep. Vicky Hartzler (R-MO), an alumna of a Life Advocacy Winning with Life seminar, “said she was ‘heartsick’ to hear her colleagues celebrating the recent anniversary of Roe v. Wade and called them out for labeling abortion ‘care’ instead of ‘taking life.’”

The LifeSiteNews report closed with a quote from Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD), who “said her ‘hope and dream’ for Americans is that they will realize children are a gift from God. ‘We need to make these [Hyde Amendment] provisions permanent,’ she said.”

Key Confirmation

THE U.S. SENATE VOTED LAST TUESDAY TO CONFIRM South Carolina’s GOP governor, Nikki Haley, as the new United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

Mrs. Haley’s confirmation – on a 96-to-4 roll call – is a victory not just for the new President but for advocates for Life, as she has a pro-life record in her six years as her state’s governor, and the United Nations is a hotbed arena for international policies concerning abortion. We are hopeful Ambassador Haley will be a strong voice for Life, which has been lacking in this post during the past eight years.

We publish the Senate voting record near the close of this Life Advocacy Briefing.

Caught Again!

PLANNED PARENTHOOD’s RESPONSE to Live Action’s 2011 undercover investigation of the abortion Goliath has just surfaced, and the developments newly discovered by Live Action do not enhance the ghoulish image of America’s largest abortion outfit.

The issue: Planned Parenthood’s complicity in exploitation of underage girls, demonstrated in undercover video footage produced by the youthful pro-life team led by then-coed Lila Rose. During that 2011 probe, Planned Parenthood personnel in various states were caught lining up abortions on girls they believed to be pregnant adolescents and neglecting – refusing? – to comply with state laws requiring them to report suspected child sex abuse.

Now a former Planned Parenthood manager in Sherman, Texas, has “told Live Action,” writes Claire Chretien for LifeSiteNews.com, “that while the abortion giant claimed in 2011 that it was retraining thousands of staff to identify child sex traffickers, it was really just fortifying itself against future undercover investigations.

“‘When we were called into this meeting,’” the former manager says in a new Live Action video, quoted by Ms. Chretien, “‘I went in really believing that Planned Parenthood could redeem themselves. … I walk into the room … and there’s a projector screen pulled down, and they began to play all of the previous undercover videos that had been put out.’” The manager began thinking about “what she could do as a manager to help her employees enforce policies and procedures protecting women who were victims of sex trafficking.” But then came the shock. The manager, writes Ms. Chretien, “says the presenter told her, ‘We are not here to talk about that, Ramona. We are here to teach you how to identify if you’re being videotaped or recorded or entrapped in any way.’” Incorrigibly corrupt.

Senate Voting Record

Confirmation of Nikki Haley as US Ambassador to United Nations – Jan. 24, 2017 – Confirmed – 96-4 (Democrats in italics; “Independent” marked “I”)

Voting “yes” / pro-Life: Sessions & Shelby/AL, Murkowski & Sullivan/AK, Flake & McCain/AZ, Boozman & Cotton/AR, Feinstein & Harris/CA, Bennet & Gardner/CO, Blumenthal & Murphy/CT, Carper/DE, Nelson & Rubio/FL, Isakson & Perdue/GA, Hirono & Schatz/HI, Crapo & Risch/ID, Duckworth & Durbin/IL, Donnelly & Young/IN, Ernst & Grassley/IA, Moran & Roberts/KS,  McConnell & Paul/KY, Cassidy & Kennedy/LA, Collins & King(I)/ME, Cardin & VanHollen/MD, Markey & Warren/MA, Peters & Stabenow/MI, Franken & Klobuchar/MN, Cochran & Wicker/MS, Blunt & McCaskill/MO, Daines & Tester/MT, Fischer & Sasse/NE, Cortez-Masto & Heller/NV, Hassan & Shaheen/NH, Booker & Menendez/NJ, Gillibrand & Schumer/NY, Burr & Tillis/NC, Heitkamp & Hoeven/ND, Brown & Portman/OH, Inhofe & Lankford/OK, Merkley & Wyden/OR, Casey & Toomey/PA, Reed & Whitehouse/RI, Graham & Scott/SC, Rounds & Thune/SD, Alexander & Corker/TN, Cornyn & Cruz/TX, Hatch & Lee/UT, Leahy/VT, Kaine & Warner/VA, Cantwell & Murray/WA, Capito & Manchin/WV, Baldwin & Johnson/WI, Barrasso & Enzi/WY.

Voting “no” / anti-Life: Coons/DE, Heinrich & Udall/NM, Sanders/VT.

House Voting Record

HR-7 – Prohibit Taxpayer Funding of Abortion – Jan. 24, 2017 – Passed – 238-183 (Democrats in italics)

Voting “yes”/pro-Life: Aderholt, Brooks, Byrne, Palmer, Roby, Rogers/AL; Young/AK; Biggs, Franks, Gosar, McSally, Schweikert/AZ; Crawford, Hill, Westerman, Womack/AR; Calvert, Cook, Denham, Hunter, Issa, Knight, LaMalfa, McCarthy, McClintock, Nunes, Rohrabacher, Royce, Valadao, Walters/CA; Buck, Coffman, Lamborn, Tipton/CO; Bilirakis, Buchanan, Curbelo, DeSantis, Diaz-Balart, Dunn, Gaetz, Mast, Posey, F.Rooney, T.Rooney, Ros-Lehtinen, Ross, Rutherford, Webster, Yoho/FL; Allen, Carter, Collins, Ferguson, Graves, Hice, Loudermilk, A.Scott, Woodall/GA; Labrador, Simpson/ID; Bost, R.Davis, Hultgren, Kinzinger, LaHood, Lipinski, Roskam, Shimkus/IL; Banks, Brooks, Bucshon, Hollingsworth, Messer, Rokita, Walorski/IN; Blum, King, Young/IA; Jenkins, Marshall, Yoder/KS; Barr, Comer, Guthrie, Massie, Rogers/KY; Abraham, Graves, Higgins, Johnson, Scalise/LA; Poliquin/ME; Harris/MD; Amash, Bergman, Bishop, Huizenga, Mitchell, Moolenaar, Trott, Upton, Walberg/MI; Emmer, Lewis, Paulson, Peterson/MN; Harper, Kelly, Palazzo/MS; Graves, Hartzler, Long, Luetkemeyer, Smith, Wagner/MO; Bacon, Fortenberry, Smith/NE; Amodei/NV; Frelinghuysen, Lance, LoBiondo, MacArthur, Smith/NJ; Pearce/NM; Collins, Donovan, Faso, Katko, King, Reed, Stefanik, Tenney, Zeldin/NY; Budd, Foxx, Holding, Hudson, McHenry, Meadows, Pittenger, Rouzer, Walker/NC; Cramer/ND; Chabot, Davidson, Gibbs, Johnson, Jordan, Joyce, Latta, Renacci, Stivers, Tiberi, Turner, Wenstrup/OH; Bridenstine, Cole, Lucas, Mullin, Russell/OK; Walden/OR; Barletta, Costello, Dent, Fitzpatrick, Kelly, Marino, Meehan, Murphy, Perry, Rothfus, Shuster, Smucker, Thompson/PA; Duncan, Gowdy, Rice, Sanford, Wilson/SC; Noem/SD; Black, Blackburn, DesJarlais, Duncan, Fleischmann, Kustoff, Roe/TN; Arrington, Babin, Barton, Brady, Burgess, Carter, Conaway, Cuellar, Culberson, Farenthold, Flores, Gohmert, Granger, Hensarling, Hurd, S. Johnson, Marchant, McCaul, Olson, Poe, Ratcliffe, Sessions, Smith, Thornberry, Weber, Williams/TX; Bishop, Chaffetz, Love, Stewart/UT; Brat, Comstock, Garrett, Goodlatte, Griffith, Taylor, Whittman/VA; Herrera-Beutler, McMorris-Rodgers, Newhouse, Reichert/WA; Jenkins, McKinley, Mooney/WV; Duffy, Gallagher, Grothman, Sensenbrenner/WI; Cheney/WY.

Voting “no”/anti-Life: Sewell/AL; Gallego, Grijalva, O’Halleran, Sinema/AZ; Aguilar, Barragan, Bass, Bera, Brownley, Carbajal, Cardenas, Chu, Correa, Davis, DeSaulnier, Eshoo, Garamendi, Huffman, Khanna, Lee, Lofgren, Lowenthal, Matsui, McNerney, Napolitano, Panetta, Pelosi, Peters, Roybal-Allard, Ruiz, Sanchez, Schiff, Sherman, Speier, Swalwell, Takano, Thompson, Torres, Vargas, Waters/CA; DeGette, Perlmutter, Polis/CO; Courtney, DeLauro, Esty, Himes, Larson/CT; Blunt-Rochester/DE; Castor, Crist, Demings, Deutch, Frankel, Hastings, Lawson, Murphy, Soto, Wasserman-Schultz, Wilson/FL; Bishop, Johnson, Lewis, D.Scott/GA; Hanabusa/HI; Bustos, D.Davis, Foster, Gutierrez, Kelly, Krishnamoorthi, Quigley, Schakowsky, Schneider/IL; Carson, Visclosky/IN; Loebsack/IA; Yarmuth/KY; Richmond/LA; Pingree/ME; Brown, Cummings, Delaney, Hoyer, Raskin, Ruppersberger, Sarbanes/MD; Capuano, Clark, Kennedy, Lynch, Keating, McGovern, Moulton, Neal, Tsongas/MA; Conyers, Dingell, Kildee, Lawrence, Levin/MI; Ellison, McCollum, Nolan, Walz/MN; Thompson/MS; Clay, Cleaver/MO; Kihuen, Rosen, Titus/NV; Kuster, Shea-Porter/NH; Gottheimer, Norcross, Pallone, Pascrell, Payne, Sires, Watson-Coleman/NJ; Lujan, Lujan-Grisham/NM; Clarke, Crowley, Engel, Espaillat, Higgins, Jeffries, Lowey, C.Maloney, S.Maloney, Meeks, Meng, Nadler, Rice, Serrano, Suozzi, Tonko, Velazquez/NY; Adams, Butterfield, Price/NC; Beatty, Fudge, Kaptur, Ryan/OH; Bonamici, DeFazio, Schrader/OR; Boyle, Brady, Cartwright, Doyle, Evans/PA; Cicilline, Langevin/RI; Clyburn/SC; Cohen, Cooper/TN; Castro, Doggett, Gonzalez, A.Green, G.Green, Jackson-Lee, O’Rourke, Veasey, Vela/TX; Welch/VT; Beyer, Connolly, McEachin, Scott/VA; DelBene, Heck, Jayapal, Kilmer, Larsen, Smith/WA; Kind, Moore & Pocan/WI.

Not voting: Costa & Lieu/CA, Price/GA, Gabbard/HI, Rush/IL, Zinke/MT, Slaughter/NY, Jones/NC, Blumenauer/OR, Mulvaney/SC, E.B.Johnson/TX, Ryan/WI.